Musings at Altitude

Each week, I probably meet 20 or more new people.

Of those 20 people, maybe 5 go to sustained conversations.

Of those 5, maybe 1 becomes an aquaintance that is more than just a business relationship.

Of those 1 per week, maybe 1 every 6 months becomes a friend.

So maybe 2 people per year become good friends.

Of those 2 per year, maybe 5 every 10 years becomes very close friends.

Of those 5, maybe 1 every decade become lifelong friends.

So in my nearly 50 years of life, I have maybe 5 very important life long friends.

I have lots of other friends, and those are very meaningful to me too.

But about 5 people fall into that category of “life long”, drop everything at anytime, friends.

In a given month, I talk with over 200 people, and about 50 of them would fall into the category of friends.

So why are only maybe 5 in the category of drop everything friends?

It’s time.

It’s priorities.

It’s the ability to live up to commitments made or to actually drop anything at any time to respond to any issue that may arise.

It’s fear.  Of getting to close to too many people with too many expectations that come from friendship.

Or is it?

It’s actually just who I am.

I get very close to lots of people over a short period of time, but I only stay connected to a very few of those over a long period of time.

Are you still considered friends if you don’t talk to each other for years at a time?

Is there any definition of friends that makes it imperative to stay engaged and involved with each other a certain amount of time?

I don’t think so.

I think it all comes back to dropping everything at any time to respond to any need that comes up.

That seems to be a defining characterization of friends.

How many life long friends do you have?